In contact sports, such as lacrosse or hockey, where sticks are essential elements of the game, a player's hands and wrists are especially vulnerable to injury when being checked by another player's stick. For this reason, players typically utilize padded gloves to protect their hands, wrists and lower forearms during play. While the gloves are intended to provide protection, players also desire gloves that maximize flexibility such that the player can flex his hand in a relatively unrestricted fashion and also manipulate the stick as required.
In the sport of lacrosse, checking includes wacking or hitting a player's stick with another player's stick in an effort to disrupt their ability to control the ball or puck. Checking in this fashion to dislodge the ball from another player's lacrosse head is an accepted part of the game in men's lacrosse. Accordingly, more padding or protection is desirable and typically utilized in protective gloves intended for men's lacrosse. While checking is not permitted in women's lacrosse, some degree of protection is still desired. This is because lacrosse is a contact sport and a player's stick can still contact another's hand in women's lacrosse, just not to the same degree of frequency as occurs in men's lacrosse. Thus, the amount of padding necessary or desired for women's lacrosse is not the same as required for men's lacrosse.
Lacrosse is a sport that is primarily played in the spring and summer months. Due to the increase in temperature and humidity during these months, ventilation of a player's hands is also a desirable feature. Accordingly, protective sports gloves have been made with openings formed in the padded back of the glove to allow ventilation of the wearer's hand by allowing air circulation. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,506. Further, other protective sports gloves have been formed with mesh openings in the leather palm that allow further air circulation to the wearer's hand. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,069. Faced with these competing concerns, lacrosse players seek a glove that provides coverage to protect vulnerable areas on their hands, but still provides improved ventilation and mobility.